Smart City Münster with 9.5 million euros

The city of Münster receives funding. It is receiving 9.5 million euros from the Federal Ministry of the Interior. For the third time, the Ministry has been looking for model projects for smart cities. And Smart City Münster is now one of them. It can bring digitalization and urban development closer together in various projects.

In 2020, the Federal Ministry of the Interior began looking for suitable municipalities for the “Model Projects Smart Cities: Urban Development and Digitalization” programme. This year, the funding program entered its third round. The city of Münster also applied in this round. With success. Together with 94 cities, districts and municipalities as well as inter-municipal cooperations, the Westphalian city was successful. Those responsible locally are delighted. Both the head of the Smart City department and the city planning officer welcome the funding approval. They can now invest around 9.5 million euros in innovative projects.

Our lives would hardly function without digital technologies. Smartphones, social media and streaming are everywhere. But has digitalization also arrived in the planning of our cities? Only a few municipalities have strategies that address smart technologies and their significance for the entire city. Moreover, this is no small task. Bringing digitalization and urban development together requires the cooperation of many players.

Third funding phase

The Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community also knows that digitalization and urban development do not simply come together. That is why it has been supporting municipalities in this task since 2020. This summer, the ministry selected 28 new projects. They are being funded in the third season of the “Smart Cities Model Projects”. This includes the North Rhine-Westphalian university city of Münster. It will receive a portion of the total 300 million euros available in 2021. Last year, the federal government had already decided to support model projects such as the Smart City Münster in its economic stimulus and future package. With the funding program, the federal government is thus supporting municipalities in using digital technologies for integrated, sustainable and community-oriented urban development.

28 model projects in 2021

The 28 selected model projects are intended to develop cross-sectoral, digital strategies for urban life in the future. The motto for 2021 is therefore “Together out of the crisis: space for the future”. The funded pilot projects are all intended to help transfer the qualities of the European city into the age of digitalization. This task was undertaken by 94 cities, districts and municipalities as well as inter-municipal cooperations from all over Germany. Their applications underwent a multi-stage review process. All applications were evaluated by two external experts. Finally, an eleven-member jury of representatives from science, politics and municipal umbrella organizations selected 28 smart cities. Smart City Münster is one of them.

Smart City Münster

Advancing digitalization is having an impact on all areas of life. All cities and municipalities must face up to the digital transformation and take advantage of the opportunities it brings. The city of Münster sees it that way too. Its application is entitled “Digitalization finds the city: Making Münster’s future together”. The proposed activities thus relate to the existing urban development concept and the City of Münster’s sustainability strategy. The Smart City Münster staff unit, which is part of the Department of Planning, Building and Economic Affairs, has brought together a total of 50 projects for the application.

Smart City Münster can now implement numerous innovative projects. They all contribute to firstly strengthening Münster as a sustainable business location and secondly making it even more liveable. The planned projects are of different types. They range from the establishment of a sensor-based network of environmental monitoring stations to the further development of measures to speed up buses and the use of open data to improve cycling. The Smart City Münster staff unit has selected twelve measures from many good ideas. They belong to the following three categories: Join-in City, Climate City and Mobile City.

Further development of the Smart City Münster

The projects compiled for the application should therefore be seen as a start. The entire smart city project in Münster will be continuously developed in a broad participatory process. The new funding will also help with this. Even during the application phase, it became clear that it is important to formulate goals together and work on projects together. To this end, many good discussions have already been held within the administration and within the Smart City Münster Alliance. Against this background, the selection of Smart City Münster is a huge success. The Smart City Münster staff unit and its now more than 40 partners are particularly pleased.

The Federal Ministry of the Interior has entrusted a consortium consisting of DLR, Fraunhofer, Difu, Creative Climate Cities and Prognos with the technical support of the Smart Cities and the establishment of a coordination office. This means that the conditions for the exchange of new knowledge are now in place. And this must be disseminated across the municipal landscape. Politics, administration, business and science on the one hand and civil society on the other play a major role here. The dialog in Germany is also supported by the “National Dialogue Platform Smart Cities” and the “Smart City Charter”. The international dialog will grow through the establishment of an International Smart Cities Network. And cooperation within the European Union is being strengthened by the “Empowering Smart Cities – approaches for European networking” project. This means that Smart City Münster can now also have a say at international level.

Also interesting: a new transfer office from the Federal Ministry of the Interior will support local authorities in the digital transformation in future. You can read all about the Smart Cities Transfer Office here.